Anchorage and Palmer area

Leaving the Kenai Penninsula we had non-stop rain days to Anchorage, so we had to pass up on some places we had intended to stop at on the Cook Inlet. In Anchorage we ended up in a Travel Lodge that nobody should have to stay in.

We got out of Anchorage to Palmer and a great improvement in hotels. The Muskox Farm located outside Palmer was very interesting. There was also a reindeer farm nearby that Al and Amy visited.

These muskox are already 4 months old and have been separated from their mothers. The kids are feeding them leaves from an (I forgot) tree.

Al on Hatcher Pass road on our way up to see what was at Talkeetna, near Denali Park. This was the first snowfall of our trip and gave rise to thoughts of heading south soon.

Road sign at Talkeetna, AK. Too bad we did not see any of these moose while we were there (so no actual pictures). Talkeetna was a very busy town with people filghtseeing over Mt McKinley and river rafting. We left and camped down the road a little, heading to Wasilla's Iditarod Museum and then to Palmer for Amy's big birthday bash.

The Iditarod Museum near Wasilla was a stop on our way back to Palmer from Talkeetna. Al posed for me next to the sign. The museum showed a great video about the iditerod race and has some nice souvenirs.

Amy next to the Joe Reddington monument at the museum. Joe known as the "Father of the Iditarod" was the guy that got the race going back in 1973.

The Valley Hotel in Palmer was super good deal and there was an inhouse restaurant, lounge and liquor store.

Amy's 39th birthday party at the Valley Hotel Lounge. We had hit a couple of the local bars beforehand, but they were pretty trashy, so we went back to the hotel lounge. We partied late into the night, perhaps 9 or 10pm.